Oil Project Starts In Northern Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s 1st Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim, various Afghan ministers, provincial governors, other officials, as well as the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, attended a special ceremony today marking the start of operations of the Amu Darya River Basin oil deposits, which are located in northern Afghanistan’s Sar-i-Pol province. The fields are expected to contain more than 80 million barrels of crude oil reserves. This is Afghanistan’s first oil project in the north and it will have tremendous economic impact. Afghanistan’s government and the Chinese state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed the country’s first oil production agreement late last year. Under the agreement, much of the of the profits from the operation will go to the Afghan government. Afghan officials are saying that the government will earn about $7 billion in revenue from the project over the next 25 years. The project will also provide job opportunities for thousands of Afghans. Afghanistan’s Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal said that “this is a big economic achievement for the government and a good message for foreign investors.”